"We want Sharia, the best of all the laws"

"We want Sharia, the best of all the laws" is scrawled in brown letters along the walls of the building where our meeting with the state authorities was held. They want Sharia, whilst we want to know why in a secular Nigeria - a country which has been re-admitted to the Commonwealth after its expulsion in 1995 (as a consequence of the execution of writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and five other members of the Ogoni minority), the country of the Christian President Obasanjo and the Miss World final - a federated state can opt, out of the blue, for such a harsh return to tradition. "We have only introduced Sharia now because it is only now [following the election of President Obasanjo, Ed.] that there is democracy in Nigeria. The dictator Sani Abacha, the military regime which preceded him and the English colonizers had always prohibited such a thing," was the response given by the Secretary of the Government of Katsina, Isa Mohammed. "We have finally regained our religious freedom," echoed Attorney General Ibrahim S. Shema, who also claims the legitimacy of the choice of practising Sharia as that "consented by the constitution before British colonization". Sharia-ordained punishments like stoning or amputation have yet to be carried out in Katsina or in any one of the other eleven states that apply Islamic law in Nigeria. On the other hand, whippings, which were also used under English rule and have remained in the books as legitimate punishment, have been inflicted. "Stoning and amputation have not been carried because the rule of law is applied in our country and due process is guaranteed," Shema said. But how is it possible that in the 21st century, adultery is considered a crime punishable by stoning to death? "English puritanism had limited the phenomenon or, at least, made it a fact best kept secret. Now, with democracy and the introduction of Sharia, adultery can be kept under control and denounced as a crime," declared Shema. "I wouldn't want to risk committing blasphemy," Mohammed added cautiously, however, "Sharia is an eternal law but its interpretation is subject to evolution." Both of them declare themselves against the excessive media attention death penalty cases in Nigeria obtain."The zero tolerance approach adopted by the rest of the world towards Sharia law risks complicating things and radicalizing Islam." In the end, however, it was the Attorney General who made the decisive statement."In spite of the fact that Amina has been condemned to death, she doesn't find herself locked up in a prison, she is free to move and after her conviction on appeal in Katsina she has the right to lodge an appeal at the Federal Appeals Court and, if necessary, the Nigerian Supreme Court. Moreover, even if she were eventually pronounced guilty in the final sentence, the woman can, according to Islamic law, ask that her life be spared and not be arrested for the execution of the sentence." Whilst the rest of the world is anxious over Amina and Nigeria appears to be, in its eyes, a place where one risks being stoned, and its President just another chief of the same ilk as the generals that have governed the country in the past, we have discovered that Sharia law in Katsina, a state emblematic of the issue, is a product of democracy in Nigeria and that Amina risks nothing other than what she is willing to subject herself to. In short, the sword of Damocles as personified by Sharia law is not yet about to fall, but is still only a threat, a political manifesto, an exercise in propaganda.The time for throwing stones has not yet come and may never do so, unless a northern governor some day decides to "stone" the President by stoning a poor and illiterate woman.Obasanjo has consistently described the Islamic law being practised in the dozen predominantly Muslim northern states as "political Shari'ah", that would fizzle out with time.